My other half is a big fan of outdoors, but her enjoyment of it all is hindered by the fact she has Raynaud’s.


“condition where the small blood vessels of the fingers become narrow (constrict), most commonly when they are in a cool environment,….leading to cold painful fingers”


As we’re off snowboarding in the new year, I would like to get her a good pair of gloves/mitts to make things a bit more enjoyable for her…..money no object!

Would anyone have any suggestions, I’m assuming mitts would be warmer?

Thanks

Gavin

Rab down mits are supposed to be good, there are also some reviews of gloves in the latest trail mag if that helps.

It might also be worth taking a look at those ones where they have heat cells in which you charge up every so often.

A pal of mine has Raynauds - he uses hot gel heat pads like these inside his mitts. Mitts are warmer than gloves, but it is also sensible to use liner gloves so that if you do have to take your hands out of your mitts to do something fiddly they still have some cover.

mitts are definately warmer than gloves, and heated inserts whether it be the thin tea bag type or a battery operated thing will obviously help, i would avoid down though due to damp problems for this type of use, look for primaloft or similar, black diamond did a really warm ladies sized mitt, as did marmot, i will pop back and give names in a bit
one thing that does help is to keep your wrists warm, i.e. good cover between glove and jacket, if you keep the blood warm along the wrist where the blood is close to the surface of the skin it doesnt cool off so much as it travels into the hand, kindof an indirect heating theory, but helps, this is why some techy base or mid layers have thumb holes to pull sleeve down over wrist, other option is tubigrip or old long sock leg section cut to make own hand to forearm insulation
p.s. if you are snowboarding then i recommend a mitt, but use thin liner gloves inside, just the 4-5 quid jobs work well, unless you use flow type bindings then you have to take outer mitt/glove off sometimes to sort out binding
hth, have a good trip

just checked some names for you,
look around for
black diamond womens mercury or patrol mitt
marmot womens altitude or piste mitt
outdoor research verglas mitt
all made is wmns sizes, i.e. fit narrower hands(palm to finger lengths vary) and different thumb
prices go from 30 up
most expensive are not necessairily warmest though, as some are not totally waterproof,

PHD mitts expensive but fantastic

That's brillant!

Thanks everyone, that's given me something to work one.

I'll brave the masses in the high street at lunch time to see what they have.

Cheers

Gavin

The warmest goves I've tried are Marmot Work Gloves, and Haglofs Helix Gloves. Both mostly leather, with waterproof linings, fleece linings and Primaloft on the back of the hand. About as warm as you'll get without going to a mitt.

Buffalo mitts would be worth looking at, as they stay warm even when wet. Handy to have as a backup, at any rate.

I suffer terribly with painful hands in the cold weather - they are aching now in a centrally-heated house!

For skiing I'm happy in Marmot Mountain Gloves - they come in a woman's range of sizes down to XS - which I need as a size 6. They consist of an inner fleece glove and a Gore-Tex padded outer. The 2 parts Velcro together while they're on so you don't get the "take one off and one goes inside-out" syndrome. They have now been superseded by the Crestline http://marmot.com/products/product.php?cat=glove&subcat=22&style_id=I1807

The new ones have a different membrane and no longer use Pittards leather, it's some other leather instead. The nose-wipe on the thumb is nice and soft and they have a little loop on the middle fingers so you can tab then onto a mini krab so you don't lose them. They're quite big and don't fit into pockets easily in a gale.

The leather has always washed well and hasn't hardened and the length is ideal as they're like gauntlets and cover the whole wrist area.

The new Crestline appears to be Unisex. It sells for between £50 and £65 in the UK but I've found them reduced to £35 at http://www.tauntonleisure.com/brand/125/

Oh, and although they're not G-T anymore, they now have stretch fabric which mine don't.

Hope this helps.

forgot to say planet fear have some gloves and mits in their clearance section...may be worth taking a look.

Of the many pairs of winter gloves in my collection, the best (IMO) are my Mountain Equipment Leather Guide Gloves. Waterproof, Pittards leather, fleece-lined, Polarloft insulation, wrist-leashes, good cuffs etc.. On offer here. M & F versions both available instore.

How about Lowe Alpine Hi 5's with a pair of liner glovers. I find them the perfect compromise between wamth and dexterity.

Id definitely go with mitts personally.

I don't tend to get cold hands, but find my cheapish mitts (thinsulate, fairly waterproof) at least keep my hands warm even when wet. Use a pair of liners as a first line of defence, then put your hands in the mitts when it's really chilly. I'd be tempted to try Buffallo mitts as they're only £20.

I'm still trying to source some gloves for my Dad - he's a chronic Raynauds sufferer too. I found these but can't find any independent reviews:
http://www.warmthru.com/html/budget.html

Another vote for mitts - guess I would size them up (at least) one and wear with fleecy liner gloves and / or enough room to shove a gel handwarmer.

Or guess if it is really bad there are some manufacturers of battery heated gloves.

But would make sure they are waterproof - last thing you want is snow / water getting in and cooling things down.

I find that it is more important to keep core, arms and wrists warm. Wearing thick gloves doesn't necessarily help.

I try to keep hydrated, and take foods to nibble, or make sure I have a mixed release breakfast.

I also make sure that my clothing doesn't constrict at the wrists (I think it is the blood vessels in the forearm and wrist that are particularly vulnerable to Raynauds), and that the gloves I wear fit so that they aren't tight (a little loose, if anything). The gloves I wear aren't special, just standard synthetic-filled ski gloves. I don't use heat pads. For me, it is the preventive measures that are most effective; keep warm, maintain the ability to supply energy to the body, don't restrict blood flow.

I have a suspicion that alcohol might reduce the occurrence of Raynauds, but I wouldn't like to suggest getting pissed on the slopes; a glass of vin chaud, maybe. Interestingly, I once found an abstract to some DoD research into the effect of alcohol on cooling, which concluded that it had no effect.

I put off learning to ski for many years, with the thought that my Raynauds would mean it would be an unpleasant experience. When I finally decided to give it a go, I found that, although I do sometimes get white fingers and toes, they aren't too painful, either when white, or when recovering (admittedly that is generally true of my experience of Raynauds).

I generally dress very lightly (shelled micropile over a thick base layer, with insulated GTX salopettes), and carry a Montane Solo Primaloft jacket in an MTB hydration pack for stops, or if I get cold.

A Raynaud’s. victim myself and find that gloves actually make the problem worse by isolating the fingers and stopping heat transfer between them. With all my trials with mitts, found that buffalo are by far the best and you can even put wet hands in them and mins later there dry. Only down side is the lose of dexterity though the pile not laminated to the pertex. suspect that Mardale mitts will be as good and may try them if my trusty buffalo ever wear out.

My wife suffers from Raynauds, she only has to touch something cold and its sets it off, fingers go white, then dead with no feeling at all and then purple and painful. She ski's and climbs and has found mits and liners, work best. Mits help her to massage her fingers. Heat pads also work well.
But for the past month she has also been taking Ginko and Omega 3 supplements and its seems to be working,although it's not stopped it does seem to have eased and not quite so bad.